8 Incredibly Ridiculous Things About Early Ant-Man Comics
Ant-Man was an original Avenger, but the stories in his classic solo run are completely bizarre!
Hank Pym, aka Ant-Man, was a founding member of the Avengers and one of the original heroes that revitalized Marvel in the 1960s. But after that Silver Age boon had come and gone, Ant-Man started to become one of the neglected heroes of the Marvel Universe. It really wasn't till the Marvel Cinematic Universe adapted the character for the big screen that he resurfaced to mainstream consciousness. And that wasn't even the original Ant-Man!
But it's probably for the best they used Scott Lang instead of classic Hank Pym, because not even Paul Rudd could make some of Pym's early storylines look good. Since he debuted in 1962's Tales to Astonish #27, Hank has been in some weird stories. Reading through, it makes sense that Ant-Man never really made his mark on comics the way that his fellow superheroes did.
So today, we will look through Ant-Man's "classic" stories from his first few years in Tales to Astonish. This collection is certainly hit or miss at times, but nonetheless, they are bona fide, canonical Ant-Man stories, so we might as well enjoy some of the more ridiculous examples.
8. His Major Archenemy is Egghead
In the early days of Ant-Man's career, Egghead was most notable of his admittedly lackluster rogue's gallery. He is a supposed "super genius" with an egg shaped head. That's it. That's his whole shtick.
It is important to note that the term genius should be used lightly. Everyone always claims he is one of the smartest around, but his actions seem to suggest otherwise. For example, in his first appearance in Tales to Astonish #38, Egghead's big plan is to trick Ant-Man's ants to lure him into a trap. And that big trap was... getting Ant-Man stuck to a piece of flypaper. Surely, a true genius could have come up with something a little more foolproof than flypaper. But then again maybe he is a genius, because the criminals who hired him paid him $10,000 for that idea.
Egghead frequently reappears in future classic Ant-Man stories but is always foiled in the end. The idea of a non-powered super genius villain isn't a bad one. Lex Luthor is one of the best baddies in comic history. Heck, Dr. Eggman from the Sonic the Hedgehog series even shares the whole egg motif and he's much better than this. But Egghead never really evoked the same sense of danger and for that reason, is doomed to irrelevancy.